An insight into Arai Helmets - Safety in Design and Manufacture

Arai Motorsport Helmets

For over 70 years Arai have been designing, developing and manufacturing helmets for firstly motorcycle use and latterly moving in to designing and manufacturing state of the art helmets for car racing. 
Arai’s current line up of Motorsport Helmets meet FIA 8859-2015 and Snell’s SA2020 Approval whilst the GP7RC Helmet also meets FIA 8860-2018 Homologation which is required for use in Formula 1. This Carbon Fibre constructed helmet comes at a premium at around £2900 excluding VAT, but the same technology goes into the rest of Arai’s range of Motorsport Helmets. 

All bar two of the processes which go in to manufacturing an Arai Helmet, be it a Carbon GP7RC Helmet or the ever popular GP6S Helmet, are carried out by hand. Meaning each helmet is visually inspected all the way through the manufacturing processes, something which cannot be achieved on other mass-produced machined helmets.

The Outer Shell

The outer shell of all Arai helmets are completely handmade by dedicated craftsmen out of several types of ‘Super Glass Fibre’. This ‘Super Glass Fibre’ has been exclusively developed by Arai. The reinforced resin material is the best for protection against impact. Originally developed for space and army defence technology, the specific gravity of the ‘Super Glass Fibre’ is 2.4 and it is 40% stronger for extension and bending resistance when compared to normal fibreglass.

The GP6 and GP Jet 3 Helmet’s outer shell features ‘Complex Laminate Construction’ which features two layers of ‘Super Glass Fibre’ with one middle layer of composite fibre to form a light yet extremely stiff and strong shell.

The GP7 FRP Helmet’s outer shell features ‘Periphery Belted Laminate Construction’ making it a lighter material than that featured in the GP6S etc. The middle layer of this construction uses a very special, ultra strong and lightweight material exclusive to Arai.

The GP7 SRC Carbon Helmets feature an extremely strong and light outer shell with no less the eleven carefully applied layers of premium Carbon Fibre. The SRC (Super Racing Carbon) construction has been designed to flex without splintering. Any flex in the outer shell is transferred to the multi layered inner shell which in turn dissipates impact energy.

The Inner Shell

The role of the inner shell is to absorb impact from the outer shell. The unique one-piece polystyrene Arai inner shell protects the head by functioning as a safety cell. It smoothly reduces the impact energy as the cells in the liner are compressed and destroyed piece by piece, extending the time of the impact.

The liners feature different densities of foam. The front, a small area must absorb the impact energy here, therefore a harder (50 grams/litre) liner is used here to prevent total liner destruction under impact. The top, a large area can absorb the impact energy, therefore a softer lining is preferred. The helmet will gently hold the head during impact using softer 28-34 grams/litre. The side and rear sections protect important parts of the head, but the available area for absorption is smaller than the top, therefore a harder (38 grams/litre) is used.

Arai 'There is a difference'

Arai’s commitment to constantly striving for the safest motorsport helmets means they are one of the leading manufacturers and provide unrivalled quality. And you can rest assured you will be wearing a helmet which has met and passed all the stringent tests set by the FIA. Why not experience ‘the Arai difference’.

As an example, in 2005, one Arai customer put his Arai helmet to an extreme test. Whilst racing in Brazilian Formula Renault, Alberto Valerio was dicing for fifth place when a fellow racer flipped in front of him. ‘I was going through the left hander at around 150MPH when the car in front hit a kerb which pitched it in to the air. Then I felt something. It was his car on mine.’

Valerio continued: ‘I got the car back to the pits, touched my helmet and felt a huge hole in it. I was taken to hospital for tests and discharged two hours later with no injuries at all.’